


Second Watch

by fictionalportal



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Extended Scene, F/F, Late Night Conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-09 03:12:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14708024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalportal/pseuds/fictionalportal
Summary: Beau gets to know Yasha a little bit better during a nighttime watch, and Yasha shares a secret.Extended scene from the most recent episode because the campfire scene made me  e m o t i o n a l.





	Second Watch

Beauregard had pulled dozens, maybe hundreds of nighttime watch shifts during her lifetime. She’d camped out in regions overrun by violent zealots, desperate cutpurses, and very angry gnomes. Many of those times, she’d been alone.

But she’d never been this nervous.

It wasn’t the thought of bandits that rattled her. This group of oddballs she’d aligned herself with could hold their own just fine. She stared out over the rolling hills that stretched in every direction. They would offer little cover to anything threatening that might approach their camp. Everyone else was asleep. Everyone but Yasha, who sat a few feet away with Frumpkin settled around her shoulders. Just two adventurers hanging out by a smoldering, crackling fire. Colleagues. Friends, even. Were they friends?

“D’you wanna...huddle together? For like, warmth? Body warmth?” Beau tried not to outwardly cringe at her own clumsiness. The night hadn’t turned frosty yet, and she wished she could take back the words.

Yasha looked over at her, confused. “Sure, but...Frumpkin is making me so warm already--”

“Oh, yeah. No, I’m good. I’m good.” Beau sat back and pulled her knees to her chest.

“And I have a very warm shawl.” Yasha started removing the wrap, and Frumpkin let out an offended meow. “Do you want it?”

Beau spoke over her. “My robe is good. It’s thin, but it’s like, high thread count, you know? It’s...very good.”

“Okay.”

Beau mentally smacked herself again. She knew she wasn’t the most charismatic of the bunch, but she could usually wade her way through basic conversations. Granted, small talk wasn’t her favorite thing in the world, but how else was she supposed to break the ice with the most frightening, powerful, beautiful woman she’d ever met? Liquid courage helped in these situations. She considered taking Nott’s enchanted, bottomless flask and drinking until she couldn’t see straight, but the little goblin used the oversized flask as a sort of body pillow while she slept. It was impossible to pry out of her tiny hands without waking her.

“...Well, this is as far as I’ve ever been.” Yasha’s voice snapped Beau out of her spiral.

The comment took Beau by surprise. “In terms of..?”

“You know, here. I’ve only been to Jorhas and Zadash,” Yasha said. She had a way of speaking that made every conversation sound casual and formal all at once. It made Beau’s head spin more than a will-o-wisp whizzing by.

“So how long since you left Jorhas?” Beau asked. Without giving Yasha time to answer, she continued, “Did you grow up there? That’s a better question. Take that one.”

Yasha held in a deep breath. Beau wondered if Yasha was already regretting initiating a conversation. A small part of her hoped that Yasha, typically the most closed-off of the bunch, might actually want to open up to her. To Beau’s pleasant surprise, Yasha went on. “I did grow up in Jorhas. Yeah. I did grow up there, but I left. I think it was about eight months ago, from what I can remember. But, uh...this is all still very new.” She paused and plucked up a handful of grass. “I like this stuff. Grass and things. You know. “

“You appreciate grass?” Beau was glad she’d coated those words with a thick layer of sarcasm. Otherwise she might have given away the fact that she found Yasha’s affinity for the simplest things in nature utterly endearing.

“I think so. I mean it’s a much softer ground to sit on, you know, instead of the marshy, sandy...”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“Uh-huh.”

During the long pause that followed, Beau could barely hear the fire over the blood rushing in her ears. But she wasn’t about to lose the little momentum she’d built up. “What was your favorite part about Zadash? Zorash? Fuck. Jor-has?” She over-enunciated the last word and cleared her throat in a futile attempt to distract from her obvious bumble.

“I don’t know if I had a favorite part,” Yasha whispered.

Beau felt a sudden gravity enter Yasha’s demeanor. “Was it that bad?”

The giant barbarian seemed to shrink where she sat. “It’s all I know, but it’s probably not the best place to grow up now that I’ve seen everything else. And I think...sometimes I wish it was a little different.”

Beau pressed on, confident that Yasha would make it clear if she was uncomfortable with a question. “Do you still have that ‘this is home’ connection with it though?”

“...Yes. I think I will always have that.” It could have been a trick of the flame, but Beau swore that a little smile flickered across Yasha’s face.

“That’s nice. I’d love to see it someday.”

“Well, I don’t know if you’re going to be that impressed by it. But maybe you will like it.”

Beau wondered what Jorhas might be like. If fierce warriors like Yasha came from there, it couldn’t be all bad, could it?

A blanket of quiet settled over them. The occasional pop from the fire kept Beau alert, but she was confident that no danger would find them during this watch.

“Beau?”

“Yeah?” Beauregard perked up, suddenly aware that she’d been half-asleep. She looked over to see Yasha rummaging through a bag. Frumpkin, perturbed by the movement, jumped from Yasha’s shoulders and curled up next to Nott.

“Could I...show you something?” Yasha held something wrapped in cloth close to her chest.

Beau shifted to face her. “Is it like, a weapon? Cool throwing star? A knife?”

“No,” Yasha said bluntly.

“Okay. Sure, I guess. I mean, yeah.”

Yasha looked between Beau and the object in her hands. She glanced at the dewy patch of ground next to her.

“Oh,” Beau exclaimed, catching on. Yasha wanted her to come closer. Beau picked herself up and sat down next to Yasha. To Beau’s surprise, Yasha leaned in, narrowing the already small gap between them.

“You cannot tell anyone about this,” Yasha said softly. It could have been a threat--coming from someone her size--but there was an unfamiliar vulnerability in Yasha’s voice.

Beau nodded.

Slowly, Yasha unwrapped the thick cloth around the package. It took Beau a moment to realize that she was holding a book. She resisted the urge to to make a joke about how she thought being a bookworm was Caleb’s defining trait.

“A novel. What’s it about?” Beau asked.

“It’s, uh...” Yasha opened the book slowly, revealing a handful of flowers pressed between the pages.

Beau couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She could only hope it didn’t look sarcastic. “You collect flowers.”

“I do.”

“That’s...” Whimsical? Adorable? “...Unexpected. They’re all from Jorhas?”

Yasha closed the book quickly, as if she feared that a cold night breeze might lift the dry petals right from their stems. She spoke quietly, “Some of them, yes. There aren’t many flowers there anymore. Or trees.”

“Or grass,” Beau joked.

“There are so many beautiful things here.” A wistful smile brightened Yasha’s face, her eyes twinkling like unnatural stars.

“Yeah,” Beau agreed. “Sure are.”

Yasha turned the book over, gently swaddling it in the cloth. She tucked it back into her bag and looked out over the frost-touched hills.

“Where do you go? Like, when you disappear?” The question fell out of Beau’s mouth.

“I think...that is a story for another night.”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” Beau paused. She’d found the line Yasha wasn’t willing to cross. Not tonight, at least. In an effort to gloss over the moment, Beau pivoted to the first topic that came to mind. “Hey, look. You can see your breath. Haaaa. Haaaaaaah,” she breathed loudly.

Behind them, Nott stirred in her sleep.

“Is our time up?” Yasha asked.

“Guess so,” Beau said, trying to hide her disappointment.

Yasha gave her a strange look, one that Beau couldn’t read. She imagined that she could spend a hundred watches with Yasha and never comprehend such an enigma. But Beau was nothing if not persistent.

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing fanfiction in a while bc film school is eating all of my free time. Hope you enjoyed it! :)


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